Detachable heel



Jan. 14, 1936. c. E. JOHNSON DETACHABLE HEEL Original Filed April 50,1932 Patented Jan. 14, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Appllc aflonApril :0, 1932, Serial No. 608,524 Renewed August 21, 1935 3 Claims.(01. 36-36) My invention relates to improvements in shoe heels andparticularly to those which may be.

attached to the shoe without employing nails or the like.

The invention has for its primary object to provide a novel and improvedmeans which enables the shoe heel to be quickly applied to the shoe andto be readily removed when worn, the nature of the invention being suchthat no tools are necessary to apply the heel or to remove it.

The invention aims particularly to provide a device of this characterwhich embodies a minimum number of parts of simple inexpensiveconstruction, there being no small elements to work loose when the heelhas been applied and the attaching elements being wholly concealed andprotected from the weather when the heel is in place,-the appearance ofthe shoe being in all respects the same as though the ordinary nailedrubber heel were used.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of novel meansfor attaching a carrier plate to the rubber heel so that when the heelwears down to expose the attaching elements they will not present anysurface or portion to catch in rugs and the like,--the nature of suchattaching portions being such that they will, when exposed, tend to sinkor approach the insole with the rest of the traction surface of theheel-as the same wears further.

The invention also contemplates a novel latching means for holding theheel in place and which is formed in part by each of the shoe andheel-carried members.

The invention also resides in a certain manner of construction,combination and arrangement of the various parts and in modes ofoperation, all of which will be readily apparent from an inspection ofthe drawing in connection with a detailed description to follow.

It is to be understood that the drawing illustrates what appears 'to bea preferred example of the invention, although obviously the same may bemodified considerably within the spirit and scope of the subject matterclaimed hereinafter.

In the drawing, wherein the same reference characters have been used todesignate the same parts in all views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the rubber heel showing the novelattaching plate incorporated therein;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the bottom of the leather heel or baseto which the rubber heel is to be applied;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the rubber heel-carried attachingplate;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view through the assembled leatherand rubber heel portions;

5 Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;and

Figure 6 is a bottom plan view of the rubber heel.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters numeral 5 designatesthe rubber heel which may be of any standard make but which preferablyhas wear-increasing protuberances as illustrated in Figure 6. Incarrying out the invention the rubber heel 5 is formed with a heel Ishaped recess 5' in its upper surface as shown in Figure 1 and whichleaves the marginal rim 5",-the recess 5 being of a depth so that whenthe heel-carried attaching plate 6 is located therein the rim 5" willextend slightly above the 20 plate to make contact with the bottomsurface of the leather heel A and in this way conceal and protect fromthe weather the interengaging attaching plates 6, B, of the rubber andleather heels respectively.

25 As illustrated, the rubber heel-carried plate 6 is provided with theoutwardly'struck and rearwardly bent attaching tongues 9. The plate 5 isplaced in the heel mould according to the preferred method ofconstruction and the heel is 30 moulded so that the tongues 9, willbeembedded therein and the recess 5 and marginal rim 5 formed in thesingle moulding operation. It should be observed, however, that there isa slight space as indicated at 5 between the mar- 35 gin of the platefiand the adjacent rim 5, the purpose of this space 5 being to accommodatethe margin of the leather heel-carried guide plate B, which as shown inFigure 5 has its edges bent inwardly to provide the groove B for re- 40ceiving the marginal portion of plate 6.

Particular attention is directed to the fact that the tongues 9 aredisposed adjacent the sides of the plate 6, and are arranged in seriesextending rearwardly inwardly of the margin of the 45 plate fromadjacent the forward edge thereof. The tongues are struck from the platein a single stamping operation. It is to be noted that such operationalso forms the latch element It, and

the tongue 9 intermediate the sides and adiacent the front edge of theplate. It is'noted that the ends of the tongues 9 are bent rearwardly,and curved upwardly slightly at their ends, so that when the heel 5wears down to expose the tongues, there will be no edgesto catch in rugsll and the like. Since the stock of the plate [is comparatively thinmetal, the tongues 8 (having been exposed) will simply bend rearwardlyand inwardly as the heel continues to wear so that even if the heel iskept in service for a considerable length of time after the tongues areexposed, no substantial injury will come to floors and no projectionswill be in evidence to catch in rugs, etc., as aforesaid.

The plates 6, B, are preferably of skeleton form for the sake oflightness,the plate 6 having the openings l2 formed by the outwardstriking of tongues 9, and the leather heel-carried plate B preferablyhaving the heel-shaped cutout D which leaves such plate 13 in aframe-like condition. Plate B is nailed or otherwise permanently securedto the leather heel.

The rubber heel I has the thickened traction portion ll at the rear,which will be arranged opposite the subjacent tongues 9, and as shown,there are marginal protuberances l5 at the sides and front of thetraction surface.

Particular attention is invited to the fact that the intermediate frontportions of the plates 6, B, are provided with integral locking meansl6, ll, which in the drawing take the form of an integral protuberanceand a recess, respectively. The mode of application of the rubber heel 5to the leather heel B will be obvious at a glance. The rubber heel issimply pressed against the leather heel so as to rock the rear portionof the rim 5 outwardly slightly so as to expose the rear end of plate 6,and enable said plate to be lodged in the groove B of the leather heelcarried plate B as the rubber heel is moved rearwardly. The protuberancel6 having seated itself in the recess ll of plate B it will be obviousthat the rubber heel 5 will be locked in place.

The marginal space 5 about the edges of the plate 6 receives themarginal portion of the guide flanges B of plate B while as stated therim of the rubber heel makes contact with the surface of the leatherheel so as to both conceal and protect the plates 6, B.

The forward tongues 9 need not have their free ends turned in as, ofcourse, the rear surface of the heel wears a great deal more than theforward part; also the forward tongues 9 may project deeper into theheel 5 than the remaining ones.

What I claim is:

1. In a shoe heel construction including a base and a removable rubberheel, a keeper plate permanently secured to said base and havinginturned edges providing a keeper groove, a carrier 5 plate secured tothe upper surface of the rubber heel, the rubber heel having acountersunk portion receiving said carrier plate and providing amarginal rim extending above and spaced laterally from the edges of saidcarrier plate where- 1 by to provide a receiving groove, the edgesofsaid carrier plate being designed to be inserted into the marginalkeeper groove of said basecarried keeper plate and the margin of thelatter being received in said receiving groove of the rubber heel, saidmarginal rim of the rubber heel being adapted to abut the surface ofsaidbase about said keeper plate whereby to conceal both plates and protectthem from the weather, and outwardly struck tongues extending from saidcarrier plate and embedded in the rubber heel, the ends of said tonguesbeing bent rearwardly toward the rounded portion of the rubber heel andthe tongues adjacent the rounded rear end of the heel having their endsbent inwardly toward the carrier plate so as not to present catchingedges when the rear end of the rubber heel wears down to expose thesame.

2. In a shoe heel construction including a base and a nailessly securedremovable rubber heel, a keeper plate permanently secured to said base,

a carrier plate engageable with said keeper plate, and outwardly struckand rearwardly bent tongues extending from said carrier plate andembedded in the rubber heel, and the tongues, 85 adjacent the roundedrear end of the heel having their ends bent inwardly toward the carrierplate.

3. In a shoe heel construction including a base and a nailessly securedremovable rubber heel, a keeper plate permanently secured to said base,

a carrier plate engageable with said keeper plate, said carrier platehaving resilient outwardly struck and rearwardly extending substantiallyV-shaped tongues embedded in the rubber heel, the free ends of saidtongues angling in toward said plates, substantially as and for thepurpose specified.

CHARLES E. JOHNSON. w

